Nativo, the leading native advertising technology platform, has released a pioneering study in native ad spend category. The study, which is the first of its kind in the industry, aims to make digital marketers aware of how specific verticals have allocated their native investments in the last three years.

The study by Nativo is a landmark resource for native advertisers who are yet to ascertain how the market is reacting to their technologies and solutions, especially with programmatic capabilities rising to the top. Nativo has accounted for the ad spends made across the entire marketplace, examining the investments from Q1’2014 through Q4’2016.

Findings by Nativo Study on Native Ad Spend

The report by Nativo asserts that overall, native spend is on the rise. According to the study that covered all verticals in Nativo’s marketplace, spending increased by 600% from 2014 to 2016. The industry-first report on native ad spending validates eMarketer’s forecast on the size of the market in 2018.

Compared to the eMarketer report that estimates the US digital display ad spend to grow 36.2% in 2017, touching $22.09 billion, Nativo’s study also puts up a very similar number, although breaking down the investments made in each vertical within the marketplace.

Unique Study owing to Market Segmentation

Beyond the broader positive outlook for native, never before had the ad spend trends been broken down by specific verticals. Before Nativo’s initiative to carry out the research, the industry only had access to vertical trends anecdotally.

Key vertical findings from the three-year study include:

Year over year, Food & Drink grew their share of native ad spend the most by 9%. Food & Drink is followed by Travel and Business, which both grew their share by 4%.

Automotive (OEM), Tech B2B, Entertainment, Tech B2C and Finance and Insurance, all early adopters of native advertising in 2014, saw their aggregate share of budget decline by 20%, from 57% in 2014 to 37% in 2016.

Wuestefeld adds, “The data indicates that while advertisers are committed to increasing their investment in native, they are still experimenting where content strategies fit within their overall marketing mix.”